Every year, the festival Expresión en Corto, which takes place in two Mexican cities – San Miguel de Allende and Guanajuato, presents several hundreds of films from around the world, most of which take part in the competition, divided into various categories. Three Polish films qualified for this year’s edition of Expresión en Corto: documentary “Mother” by Jakub Piątek, documentary impression “Where the sun doesn’t rush” by Matej Bobrik and animation “Esterhazy” by Izabela Plucińska, who won the best short animated film award.
The international jury, including: Jon Bloom, the Governor of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, John Gheur, visual artist and film producer, Linda Olszewski, Head of International Sales for Shorts International from the United States and French producer Romain Greco, gave the award to Izabela Plucińska for innovative animation combining 2d and 3d technology, and at the same time retaining delightful colours, enormous importance of detail and the play of the light.
“Esterhazy” is the story about a tiny Vienna rabbit, which comes to Berlin in search of a big wife. It turns out that making this happen is extremely difficult. A candidate for a wife can only be found in rabbits’ paradise, which is located over a large wall, guarded by soldiers. The adventures of the rabbit called Esterhazy, touching upon the true story of the Berlin Wall, build a metaphorical picture of the fights for freedom and changes in 1989.
Izabela Plucińska’s animation, made by international group of film makers in 2009 – that is, the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the wall, dividing the West Berlin from the East one, was made in the plasticine technique, referring to the Polish school of animation. Its screenplay was written on the basis of German children book by Irene Dische and Hans Magnus Enzensberger under the same title.
Izabela Plucińska was born in 1974 in Koszalin. She studied animation at the Leon Schiller’s National Higher School of Film, Television and Theatre in Łódź, and graphics with design at Lodz’s Fine Arts’ Academy, as well as in Potsdam Konrad Wolf The Film & Television Academy (HFF). From among several plasticine animations, the film “Jam Session” (2005) brought her the biggest successes; it was honoured with numerous awards, including the Silver Bear for short film at the festival in Berlin. She currently lives in Berlin, where she runs her own production company Cleytraces.
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